1942. American with a British mother, Thomas Jeffords signed up with the British Royal Navy at the breakout of the war. Vice Admiral Ashurst assigns now Lt. Commander Jeffords a secret mission in the strategic location of Malta, success or failure in the region which may tip the balance of the war. This assignment is under the command of the Vice Admiral's son, Commander Roger Ashurst. The mission, which cannot be accomplished by air by the RAF: to lead a flotilla of MTBs into Augusta, a former submarine base in Sicily taken over by the Nazis, in order to destroy new high tech weaponry housed in the secured submarine pens which have been wreaking havoc against the British Navy, namely glider bombs. While it is up to Jeffords to devise the strategy, it is largely seen as a suicide mission for all involved, with Commander Ashurst not even sure why his father would send anyone new into Malta for the mission in its seeming futility and the tenuous state of the island. Jeffords was given this assignment arguably as a mission driven man i.e. getting the job done at any and all cost regardless of the human lives lost including possibly his own, which does not sit well with most of the men under his command only for the toll on morale. Jeffords does make a human connection while in Malta with a mysterious blonde who he does not discover until it's too late in their mutual attraction to each other that she is Commander Ashurst's wife, Alison Ashurst. She came to Malta as a last ditch attempt to save their marriage, it now at a point of no return in their contempt for each other, while, because of the situation of Malta and the war, she unable to be evacuated.
—Huggo